Paraflinching to the top (Peaked at 1280 on PO)

[Drakeyy]

Team Preview:

The original purpose of this team was simply to be as annoying as possible with Rachi Togekiss Sableye and Whimsicott being the core team. I quickly learned how effective paraflinching really is and decided to stick with this and build a team around the strategy. It peaked at 1280 on the PO server (right around 130) and tbh Im not sure how it is so effective because it has some glaring weaknesses (especially to rain). Ive hit a wall somewhat and run out of ideas for this team, mostly ive been switching around celebi and gyarados for other options such as Blissey, Heatran, Whimsitroll, Infernape but others dont seem to be as effective. Anyways without further adu here is my team.​

Jirachi @ Leftovers
252 HP/224Atk/32Spe
Serene Grace
Adamant
-Substitute
-Body Slam
-Iron Head
-Fire Punch​

One of the two stars, haxrachi returns again to terrorize opponents. Body slam is preferred over T-wave to hit ground types and Fire punch is there for ferrothorn/forretress that think they can come in and set up on me outside of the rain. Substitute is crucial allowing me to come in and get one off while the other switched to a counter (usually Heatran) which then allows me to get off a body slam or two to paralyize. It works great with togekiss and gyarados, taking electric attacks aimed at them while they can take ground and fire types aimed at Rachi. It loves TTar leads as Iron Head 2HKOs and with its flinch rate can nearly always kill Ttar before it can fire off an attack or setup stealth rock. Rachi is also the bane of volt-turn teams as it sponges both switch and u-turn and can paraflinch Rotoms low health or fire punch scizor. The only thing i have to be afraid of is Landorus in which case i need to body slam it on the switch in and pray for paralysis, otherwise Ill need to switch out and give up any momentum I have​

Togekiss @ Leftovers
252HP/56Def/200Spe
Serene Grace
Modest
-Thunder Wave
-Air Slash
-Roost
-Nasty Plot​

The second of my flinchers, this thing can sponge some special attacks that others dont anticipate. Even a specs rotom with a + nature cannot OHKO with volt switch. If i predict a switch from a scarftom I will either T-wave what i think is coming in, set up a nasty plot or roost off the damage. Against special walls like Blissey I can usually get to +6 Spa and paraflinch it but not without taking a toxic in the process, and since Togekiss hates status that can be crippling. Air slash is the only attacking move it needs as it can paraflinch ferrothorn to death fairly quickly after a few nasty plots. His low speed can be a hindrance so if i predict a switch ill fire off a t-wave to gurantee i outspeed. Even common threats like starmie I can sponge then t-wave it and paraflinch it.​

Celebi @ Leftovers
252 HP/ 220 Def/ 36 Spe
Natural Cure
Bold
-Thunder Wave
-Recover
-Giga Drain
-Psychic​

This guy is probably where I need the most help, He is vital to my set taking annoying statuses and then firing back with a t-wave and switching out to cure itself. Giga Drain and psychic are the chosen stabs and im not really sure why I picked them. I tried another set with Zen hedbutt and u-turn with sub and t-wave but i generally prefer this set. His grass stab is crucial to take care of gastro/swampert/quaggy that otherwise would plague my team. Psychic is there for Conkeldurr and Machamp as well which could give my team problems if Gyarados goes down or they are packing thunderpunch​

Gyarados @ Leftovers
252 HP/128 Atk/ 128 Spe
Intimidate
Adamant
-Dragon Dance
-Taunt
-Waterfall
-Stone Edge​

One of my favorite pokes since the days of RBY he returns to terrorize physical attackers. Intimidate helps to shut down physical attackers and taunt prevents them from trying to set up as well as preventing Ferrothorn etc from setting up. Stone edge hits Dnite and Salamence in case my own mence gets paralyzed/incapacitated. And it can also be used for the genies who can be huge annoyances. Waterfall is the obligatory stab and can do some major damage against rain teams that are unprepared.​

Salamence @ Choice Scarf
4 HP/ 252Atk/ 252Spe
Moxie
Adamant
-Outrage
-Earthquake
-Aqua Tail
-Brick Break​

My late game sweeper, his goal is to come in at the end after everyone has taken damage and just spam outrages. The scarf allows him to outspeed other dragons and come in on weakened pokes to finish them off with a quick EQ. Aqua Tail is there to hit Landorus and Gliscor while Brick break can hit Ferrothorn in the rain, however neither attack is very often used so i would be open to change either one. EQ can hit Calm mind Jirachi in the Rain which is probably the biggest threat to my team, so if I cant take him down it will sweep my team.​

Rotom @ Choice Scarf
4 HP/ 252 Spa/ 252 Spe
Levitate
Modest
-Trick
-Volt Switch
-Thunder Wave
-Hydro pump​

The final member of my team and another very important one whos primary goal is really just to keep up the momentum. He is usually one of my leads and almost always Tricks the first move as the most common counter is ferrothorn. The most common counter (Ferro, Gastro, Quaggy, Gliscor) dont like taking a scarf and neutering any one of those can be the difference in me winning or losing. Yet another T-wave user here as i dont want any other status on the opposing team since mine really lacks speed and it is important to the paraflinch strategy. Sometimes I will T-wave first and then switch out when the counter comes in since most people dont expect a scarf on a t-wave rotom. Volt switch is great for scouting and hydro pummp is the other stab to hit gliscor landorus etc.​

Major Threats​

Calm Mind subRachi in the rain - he can set up freely against most of my pokes so if i cant trick a scarf onto him or get off an EQ before he gets his sub up I will get swept every time.​

Sub Charge Beam Magnezone - same problem as Rachi, If my rachi dies trying to Fire punch it it will put me in big trouble​

DDance MoxieMence - After a DD it will outspeed my mence so if i cant get a t-wave on it before my celebi or rotom goes down it will sweep me​

Well there you go, Its my first RMT for BW and the first one ive posted on here in as long as I can remember. Ill be open to any suggestions and thanks for looking.​

 

[Jimbon]

Hi there!

This is a neat team you have here, Jirachi, Togekiss and Celebi providing status support to cripple faster foes that make be annoying for your sweepers to face. One problem I do see with this team like you have stated, are the weaknesses to common threats such as CM Rachi, Sub Charge Beam Magnezone and DD MoxieMence. Jirachi outspeeds and avoids the status from your defensive mons through Substitute, and can begin setting up Calm Minds while your walls cannot break the Sub. Magnezone does something similar with it's Substitute set, trapping Jirachi and avoiding status, all while gaining boosts with Charge Beam. Salamence does seem a little less scary for you to face, as you have your own Salamence and Rotom-W to check it, however I do see how it can be a problem. To help with these weaknesses, I recommend you test out a Double Dancing Landorus-T over your current Gyarados. Landorus-T does a number of things for your team, it gives you a great switch in to Salamence, as well as checking Jirachi and Magnezone very well. Neither of which will want to stay in against Landorus-T in fear of an Earthquake that will definitely OHKO. Landorus also gives you a much more solid stat booster, Landorus can boost both its speed and attack, taking full advantage of the paralysis support from the rest of your team. Landorus-T also allows you to switch in on stuff such as Scizor and Terrakion much easier, as well as not being weak to Stealth Rock -- this is important when your team lacks a spinner and you will want to be limiting your switches as much as possible. The set listed below gives you 353 HP, an ideal number for Stealth Rock. After a Rock Polish, you outspeed a lot of common scarf users, namely Terrakion, Rotom and Salamence.

As for your Jirachi set, I do think you could modify it a little to help your team out. I think a Specially Defensive set would benefit your team a lot more. It will give you a check to those common genies running around everywhere, who do look very threatening to your team. Specially Defensive Jirachi also provides you wish Wish support, something that does look very beneficial for your team when you factor in numerous Pokemon weak to Stealth Rock whilst having no spinner. Combined with your Max HP investment, you can pass big wishes off to Rotom and Salamence, allowing them a lot more switches. This also allows you to spread paralysis support around while giving you a better check to Magnezone and Jirachi, both you outlined as big threats to your team. With this Specially Defensive set, Fire Punch still breaks the Substitute of both Jirachi and Magnezone, while retaining special bulk and Wish support. Not to mention there's not much reason to run an offensive set when your other team mates already handle it well.

Sets

Landorus-T (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Intimidate
EVs: 136 HP / 200 Atk / 172 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Rock Polish
- Earthquake
- Swords Dance
- Stone Edge

Jirachi @ Leftovers
EVs: 252 HP / 224 SDef / 32 Spe
Trait: Serene Grace
Careful Nature (+SDef, -SAtk)
- Wish
- Body Slam
- Iron Head
- Fire Punch

 

[Drakeyy]

I tried out Landorus because I liked the idea offensively, however defensively it kills me. It just gives me another Ice weakness to go along with Celebi and Salamence and would make my entire team bar Rotom weak to Mamoswine. I will try out wish on Rachi, however I like to sub when i force a switch and that gives me a chance to paralyze Landorus or other counters when they switch in and then paraflinch it to death while still behind a sub.

 

[blunder]

Interesting team to say the least. The First thing that stood out to me was the fact that you have 3 things week to Stealth Rock and no Spinner. So my first recommendation would be to swap Gyarados for Forretress as Forretress can set up hazards of your own and spin away unwelcome rocks. Gyarados and Rotom-W on a team is kind of counteractive so It's not really needed.

 

[FrozenRotom]

Looks like a decent team besides the weakness to stealth rock. I might suggest using confuse ray instead of twave on rotom because instead of the speed drop they may take damage and it can add up after 3 or so hurt it selfs.

 

[Motagua]

Your Jirachi set is strange as it lacks the necesary bulk to tank hits, the speed to paralyze certain key threats and with a poor Steel + Fire + Normal coverage, I do not really see why is necesary such a heavy Atk investment. You might want to try out this EV spread of: 164 HP / 168 Atk / 176 Spd. With 164 HP EVs, Landorus´ U-turn fails to break the Sub and Gengar´s Shadow Ball can´t 2HKO, as well as Specs Draco Meteor from Latios. 168 Atk EVs still ensures Jirachi gets the necesary super-effective 2HKOs or OHKOs on pokemons like Tyranitar, Mamoswine, Abomasnow and Lucario, while 176 Speed EVs allows you to outspeed positive base 90s.

Your random EV spread on Gyarados is strange too as it doesnt seem to outspeed something important after +1 or +2, or reach an important bulk level. You might want to use 176 HP / 128 Atk / 204 Speed. 176 HP EVs still allows you to take attacks in great shape thanks to Intimidate, while 204 Speed EVs allows you to outspeed Scarf Landorus or Thundurus-T after +2. Hope this helps and good luck!